RotoGraphs Consensus Ranks: Catcher

by
February 18, 2014

It’s time now to start rolling out the rankings, as the drafts are starting to get scheduled and everyone’s prepping. Once we’re doing rolling these out, we’ll give you a spreadsheet with our rankings and steamer projections. That way you can erase my rankings and improve your experience, if that’s what you’re all about. You’ll notice that the ‘draft tools’ box to the bottom right is slowly filling up. And if you need a little ‘extra,’ there’s always FG+ to give you advanced fantasy research and player caps on 1250 player pages.

No more ado. Catchers!

One more year with Joe Mauer, and his move to first base might make him especially sexy this year. More plate appearances! Less wear and tear! Brian McCann might get some extra time at DH, plus he has that alluring short porch and a park that loves lefty hitters. Old man A.J. Pierzynski inspired some different levels of excitement, as did the young man with the high batting average on balls in play in Chicago. Looks like Devin Mesoraco is a staff favorite, and htere’s a little bit of love for Yasmani Grandal and A.J. Ellis. Nobody’s all that into Jarrod Saltalamacchia, sort of.

And if you’re complaining about someone ranked ninth to 18th… I dunno. Seems like a big pool of guys that could hit .260 with 18 homers (or similar value, since some will hit for more power, and some for a better batting average). It’s that mess of guys in the middle that seems to suggest that waiting on a catcher in a one-catcher mixed league is the way to go. Is there a huge difference between Jason Castro and Yan Gomes?

Rankings based on 5×5 roto, 12 teams, single-catcher with Middle Infield and Corner Infield spots, 14 hitters and 9 pitchers. Each ranker had their own mix of projections and intuition.

RG Name Jeff Zach Mike Eno
1 Buster Posey 1 1 1 1
2 Joe Mauer 2 2 3 2
3 Wilin Rosario 3 3 2 3
4 Brian McCann 5 4 6 4
5 Carlos Santana 4 5 5 5
6 Jonathan Lucroy 8 7 4 8
7 Yadier Molina 7 8 9 6
8 Salvador Perez 6 6 11 7
9 Jason Castro 10 10 7 9
10 Evan Gattis 9 9 8 10
11 Matt Wieters 11 13 10 12
12 Wilson Ramos 13 15 13 11
13 Miguel Montero 12 12 14 13
14 Yan Gomes 14 11 12 14
15 Travis d’Arnaud 15 18 15 19
16 A.J. Pierzynski 24 14 16 16
17 Welington Castillo 18 16 24 18
18 Devin Mesoraco 17 28 18 15
19 Alex Avila 20 22 20 20
20 Russell Martin 16 26 19 22
21 Josmil Pinto 23 17 31 17
22 Jarrod Saltalamacchia 19 24 17 31
23 Yasmani Grandal 31 19 25 21
24 A.J. Ellis 28 21 22 23
25 Carlos Ruiz 22 23 27 24
26 John Jaso 27 20 28 25
27 Mike Zunino 21 25 23 30
28 Josh Phegley 29 27 32 27
29 Dioner Navarro 26 32 29 28
30 Geovany Soto 30 33 21 33
31 Derek Norris 25 36 26 34
32 Hank Conger 32 31 35 26
33 J.P. Arencibia 33 29 33 29
34 Chris Iannetta 34 35 30 36
35 Ryan Hanigan 40 30 34 35
36 Stephen Vogt 40 40 37 32
37 Kurt Suzuki 40 34 36 37
38 Martin Maldonado 35 40 40 39
39 Nick Hundley 40 40 40 38
40 George Kottaras 40 40 40 40





 

With a phone full of pictures of pitchers' fingers, strange beers, and his two toddler sons, Eno Sarris can be found at the ballpark or a brewery most days. Read him here, writing about the A's or Giants at The Athletic, or about beer at October. Follow him on Twitter @enosarris if you can handle the sandwiches and inanity.

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MustBunique
10 years ago

Yes! Love the preseason rankings. Great day.

Gattis at 9 is surprising. Can you expand on that a little? Right now MLB Depth Charts has him batting in the 4 hole behind Heyward, Upton, and Freeman. Production numbers alone should push him into the top 6, with his ceiling being higher. Good looking list otherwise.

2
MustBunique
10 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

**Looking at Jeff’s number for the 9, overall he is 10.

1
Chad
10 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

It’s probably related to the fear that he’s a terrible hitter who doesn’t wind up having a job.

1
yosoyfiesta
10 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

Gattis is a low BABIP guy given his existing batted ball profile. He’s not likely to be an OBP or AVG gem, but he also hit the longest home run in the majors last year and he hit 21 HRs in 382 PAs. His power is mammoth and he’s going to bat clean-up per Freddie G’s comments yesterday. In fantasy, production numbers matter, they matter a lot, and with a little semi-quantitative reasoning you can all agree that the higher in the line-up you hit, the more PAs you get, the more productive you have the opportunity to be.

Jeff Zimmerman is a pretty smart guy, check this out, particularly the multipliers.

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/hitter-evaluation-runs-and-rbis-part-2/

It was written a couple years ago, so the year index might be something less than 1, but the rest should be pretty sound.

Gattis projection (5×5 roto): 70R, 31HR, 83RBI, 0SB, .269AVG

-that’s based on a 16.5% HR/FB rate, a .280 BABIP, 566 PAs and the production numbers were developed using JZ’s research

2
Campbrice
10 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

Could be that 0.291 OBP….hacking only gets you so far

0
Benjamin
10 years ago
Reply to  Campbrice

not that it’s a guarantee, but there is room for his walk rate to improve…he posted very respectable BB/K numbers at A+ and AA

1
libradawg
10 years ago
Reply to  Campbrice

Yes, it gets you Top Ten positional rankings from virtually every source that has ever published an article. Please tell me, one piece of evidence that suggests the OBP won’t go up if not significantly? Anything. Please do, I really need to see this, it’s been a pretty rough week. But yeah, rookies often force their way into 1st place lineups and then remain stagnant. I got it.

-1
Eno Sarrismember
10 years ago
Reply to  MustBunique

speaking for myself, I’m a little worried about defense from a guy that doesn’t have a ton of experience catching. Maybe it won’t be bad enough to sit him all the time, but with Doumit on the team, it might be enough to have him replaced at the end of games. That takes PA away.

-1
libradawg
10 years ago
Reply to  Eno Sarris

Doumit has left some wondering whether or not he can handle the DH position on and off throughout the years. He will not be threatening anybody’s playing time. When you lose the amount of C the Braves have lost the past two years you do your best to prepare in case of a disaster. But Doumit is as bad as they come with the leather.

0
Dan Ugglas Forearm
10 years ago
Reply to  Eno Sarris

Check out Gattis’ defensive numbers exclusively at catcher. He was actually a really good pitch framer, and ranks in between Kratz and Avila as far as receiving goes. Gattis was a catcher until his bat forced its way into the lineup, even when McCann was catching, and all of his negative defensive value comes from his time in the outfield.

1